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Pops burst onto the scene last year with its collection of zany, customizable animated notifications for Android. Since then, the company went on to raise $1.5 million from Mangrove Capital Partners, one of Skype’s early investors, and build up a base of more than 500,000 users who send over 1.5 million alerts a day.

The application replaces the notification system on Android and plays five-second animations or photos when you receive a message while your phone’s on standby. An update to the app, which is already live on Google Play, now includes a Send a Pop service that lets you wrap texts, Facebook messages, emails and other messages in custom “pops” animations and images, either from the company’s own store or from your own media library.

“Now with this new Send a Pop feature, you can easily customize the visual alert for every message you send, adding an amazing flair to messages that lets your personality shine through,” said Pops founder Yaron Orenstein.

Other Pops users will see your message as an alert, while friends who don’t have the app installed will receive a link to the animation.

Dancing and singing notifications aren’t for everyone, as some of you probably get alerts nearly every five seconds, but the service does seem to have built up a loyal and active following.

If this is indeed the next generation of ringtones, expect the money to flow. The startup is working with music labels, movie producers and brand advertisers to bring their content to the Pops store. Maybe AOL could pick up a new revenue stream by selling a “You’ve got mail” alert…